Thousands of Catholic faithful filed past the body of Benedict XVI on Monday as the pope emeritus, who died Saturday at age 95, lay in state at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.
He will be buried on Thursday by his successor, Pope Francis.
As many filed past Benedict’s body, draped in red and gold vestments, two Swiss guards stood in attention. The Catholic faithful paid their respects, amid solemn organ music and singing. It’s the kind of setting you’d expect for a papacy marked by his orthodoxy, albeit not without his contradictions.
He was known as a traditionalist — “God’s rottweiler” — for fiercely adhering to church doctrine. But Benedict’s papacy was a papacy of firsts.
Despite his failures, during a 2008 trip to the U.S, he was the first pope to meet with victims of sex abuse and to publicly apologise, condemning what he called “filth” in the Church.
And in his most defining act, Benedict was the first pope to resign in six centuries, recognising, he said, his “incapacity to fulfill” his ministry due to the strain of old age.
While he made a majestic farewell over the Eternal City in his exit from the papacy in 2013, he never exited the Vatican. While Francis championed Benedict’s bravery to abdicate his power, having two men wearing white created the impression of two competing ideological camps: Francis the more liberal, Benedict the arch-conservative.
On Thursday, it will be Francis making history, becoming the first pope in modern times to preside over the funeral of his predecessor.
The Vatican said the ceremony will be sober and simple — exactly as Benedict wanted.